Container closures



April 23, 1963 J. c. HILL 3,086,672

CONTAINER CLOSURES Filed May 6, 1959 6 Inventor United States Patent Ofiice 3,086,672 Patented Apr. 23, 1963 3,086,672 CONTAINER CLOSURES John Charles Hill, Blackheath, London, England, assignor to The Metal Box Company Limited, London, England, a British company Filed May 6, 1959, Ser. No. 811,477 2 Claims. (Cl. 2154'4) This invention relates to the closuring of containers by the use of what are known in the art as quarter-turn caps, that is caps, made usually of thin tinplate or thin sheet aluminium, which co-act with multi-start screwthreads, usually four in number, formed on the neck of the container to be closed.

As is well understood, the so-called quarter-turn caps are more easy to apply to containers and to remove therefrom than are caps which are adapted for co-operation with continuous screw-threads and a number of prior proposals have been made for effecting the initial application of quarter-turn caps to containers. Among such proposals it has been proposed to avoid the necessity of screwing the caps on to the containers by applying to the neck of a container a cap having an annular skirt the free edge of which is provided with a continuous curl, and then by the use of radially operable fingers or other elements, to press portions of the skint inwards beneath the threads on the neck. However, in all instances prior to the present invention it has been necessary when automatically securing quarter-turn caps to containers to etiect either orientation of the container relative to the cap, or orientation of the container relative to the cap thread-forming means and it is a main object of the present invention to provide that a cap can be automatically applied to a container having a neck with multistait threads without the necessity of screwing the cap on to the neck, and without the necessity of effecting preorientation preparatory to the cap being secured in position on the container.

According to the present invention there is provided a container comprising a neck having formed :on the exterior thereof an annular bead which is spaced from the mouth of the neck and from which emanate multi-start screwthreads which extend towards the mouth, and a cap the skirt of which surrounds the neck between said bead and mouth and is provided at the free edge thereof with a continuous curl having contiguous portions thereof respectively compressed against the faces of said threads and engaged beneath the threads thereby to permit the cap to be screwed oil of and on to the neck.

Further according to the invention there is provided a method of closuring a container having a neck by providing on the exterior of the neck an annular bead which is spaced from the mouth of the neck and from which emanate multi-start threads which extend towards the mouth, disposing about the neck a cap having an annular skirt provided at the free edge thereof with a continuous curl, and exerting pressure on the curl to cause contiguous portions thereof respectively to be compressed against the faces of said threads and engaged beneath the threads.

Still further according to the invention there is provided a cap for closing the mouth of a container neck having formed on the exterior thereof an annular bead which is spaced from the mouth and from which emanate multistart screw-threads which extend towards the mouth, comprising a crown and an annular skirt the free edge of which is provided with a continuous curl contiguous portions of which are respectively flattened and directed inwards towards the axis of the cap to form multi-start threads which emanate from said free edge and extend towards the crown for co-operation with the threads on said container neck.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a cap according to the invention,

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate alternative forms of cap from which the cap illustrated in FIG. 1 can be made,

FIG. 5 illustrates the top of a jar to be fitted with a cap in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 6 illustrates a cap as shown in FIG. 2, or FIG. 3, or FIG. 4, fitted about the neck of a container just prior to operation thereon by a closing ring by which the curled portions of the cap are tailored to the neck .of the jar, and

I FIG. 7 illustrates, partly in section, the manner in which the closing ring co-operates with the cap and jar to secure the cap to the jar. 7

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4 of the drawings, the cap is made from thin tinplate, or thin sheet aluminium and comprises a crown 1 fiom which extends a skirt 2, the free edge of the skirt being formed as a continuous curl 3. The curl may be an inturned curl as illustrated in FIG. 2, or FIG. 3, or, if desired, the curl may be an outturned curl as illustrated in FIG. 4. When, however, the curl 3 is an inturned curl it must always have an outer diameter which is greater than the diameter of the skirt 2, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, portions 4 of the curl 3 are flattened and portions 5 contiguous therewith are directed inwards towards the axis of the cap to form multistart threads which emanate from the free edge of the skirt and extend towards the crown 1 for co-operation with threads on the neck of a container. As will be described below the contiguous flattened and inwardly directed portions 4, 5 are formed in situ about the neck of the container.

Referring to FIG. 5, the container therein illustrated is a glass jar 6 having a neck 7, and formed on the exterior of the neck 7 is an annular bead 8 which is spaced from the mouth of the neck and from which emanate multi-start threads 9 which extend towards the mouth of the neck. When the cap is to be initially secured to the container it is disposed about the neck thereof, as illustrated in FIG. 6, to surround the neck between the bead 8 and the mouth. The bottom of the container is supported on a platform or the like, not shown, and the jar with the cap resting freely thereon is aligned with a closing ring 10 mounted in any suitable known manner, not shown, for vertical reciprocation as indicated by the double-headed arrow 11. Downward movement of the closing ring 10 causes the circumferentially spaced straight portions or fingers 12 of the interior of the ring to engage with the curl 3 and press it inwards towards the axis of the neck of the container so as to tailor the whole of the curl to the neck and cause those portions of the curl which are aligned with the multi-start threads 9 to be compressed and flattened at 4 against the faces of the threads 9 and the portions 5 which are contiguous with the portions 4 to be engaged beneath the threads 9 to form in the cap multi-start screw-threads which secure the cap in position on the container. The fact that the threads 9 emanate from the bead 8 prevents the cap fnom being rotated past the threads 9 in a clockwise direction and so ensure that when the cap has been secured by the closing ring to the neck it can thereafter, by a quarterturn movement, be easily removed from the neck and re-applied to the neck.

Although in the foregoing description the closing ring has been described as being movable axially relative to the jar on the support it will be understood that, if desired,

that jar and support may be moved axially relative to the closing ring.

The cap may, as illustrated in FIG. 7, be provided with a disc 13 of cardboard, cork, or other material, or if desired with a sealing compound in which the of the mouth of the neck can be bedded. When a sealing compound is employed it may, in known manner, be located in a channel formed in the crown of the cap.

It will also be understood that, if desired, the container may, during closuring, be vacuumised in any suitable known manner. When the container has been so closured the initial turning movement eflected during removal of the cap from the container causes the tail end of the thread slightly to lift the beaded edge of the cap thus helping to break the vacuum in the container.

I claim:

1. A container comprising a neck having formed on the exterior thereof an annular head which is spaced from the mouth of the neck and from which emanate multi-start screw-threads which extend towards the mouth, and a cap having a skirt which surrounds the neck between said bead and mouth and is provided at the free edge thereof with a continuous outt-urned curl, said curl having a greater external diameter than said skirt and having contiguous portions thereof respectively compressed against the faces of said threads and engaged beneath the threads thereby to permit the cap to he screwed off of and on to the neck, said compressed curl portions being narrow as compared to the circumferential extent of said curl and being helical in outline.

2. .A cap for closuring the mouth of a container having a neck with a plurality of circumterentially spaced threads, said cap having a crown, a generally stnaight skirt depending from said crown and terminating at the lower end thereof in a continuous outturned curl, the major circumferential portions thereof being of a greater external diameter than the external diameter of said generally straight skirt, said curl having circumferentially spaced inner flattened inner thread receiving portions, said thread receiving portions being relatively narrow as compared to the circumferential extent of said curl and being helical in outline.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,554,748 Merolle Sept. 22,1925 1,667,003 Hardiman Apr. 24, 1928 1,810,706 Hardiman June 16, 1931 1,849,522 Hammer Mar. 15, 1932 2,038,524 Carvalho Apr. 28, 1936 2,358,889 Thomas Sept. 26, 1944' 

1. A CONTAINER COMPRISING A NECK HAVING FORMED ON THE EXTERIOR THEREOF AN ANNULAR BEAD WHICH IS SPACED FROM THE MOUTH OF THE NECK AND FROM WHICH EMANATE MULTI-START SCREW-THREADS WHICH EXTEND TOWARDS THE MOUTH, AND A CAP HAVING A SKIRT WHICH SURROUNDS THE NECK BETWEEN SAID BEAD AND MOUTH AND IS PROVIDED AT THE FREE EDGE THEREOF WITH A CONTINUOUS OUTTURNED CURL, SAID CURL HAVING A GREATER EXTERNAL DIAMETER THAN SAID SKIRT AND HAVING CONTIGUOUS PORTIONS THEREOF RESPECTIVELY COMPRESSED AGAINST THE FACES OF SAID THREADS AND ENGAGED BENEATH THE THREADS THEREBY TO PERMIT THE CAP TO BE SCREWED OFF OF AND ON TO THE NECK, SAID COMPRESSED CURL PORTIONS BEING NARROW AS COMPARED TO THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL EXTENT OF SAID CURL AND BEING HELICAL IN OUTLINE. 